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Music as therapy By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings Music has the ability to make people think, feel and move. But that's not all. Local music therapists Jane Price and Jenifer Carstensen are teaching a workshop, held at the Willow Wind Community Learning Center in Ashland, that takes music beyond performance to promote health and healing. "Most people think of music in two ways. It makes us feel good and people perform it," Carstensen said. "Music therapy stretches the definition of what music can do and be for people." Price and Carstensen teamed up to teach a six-week workshop about music therapy and how to use it to motivate, communicate, and address cognitive, physical and social or emotional goals. The relationship between music and healing may not seem clearly defined - but it is there, according to Carstensen. "I know of a case where a man had Alzheimer's and was beyond recognizing his family. Yet when a music therapist came in and played music that he was familiar with in his younger days, he not only recognized his wife, he began to dance with her," she said. According to the American Music Therapy Association, the idea of music as a healing influence which can affect health and behavior is as old as the writings of Plato. However, the 20th Century discipline began after World War I when community musicians would travel to veteran hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma. The practice has since spread and music therapists can be found in a number of different venues from day care treatment centers to correctional facilities to community mental health centers. Carstensen and Price are teaching their music therapy skills to a small group of teenagers to cultivate more interest in the practice. The six-week workshop will culminate with trips to Ashland-based Head Start on Friday and Linda Vista on Friday, May 16, where each student will have the opportunity to share the skills they spent weeks perfecting. "The idea of being able to take the music skills that you have and apply them in a human service application, it gives (students) the opportunity to find out 'How do I work with people,'" Price said. Students Jenna Wixon-Genack, Azalea Micketti, Aspehn McNamara, Rebekah Mortensen, Garrett Haberman, Erica Baze, Tatiana Baze and Nokomis Baze have designed their own activities, practiced, and are ready for their "clients." "All the activities they will be doing will be to enhance goals," Price said. For example, if the music therapy students lead a group of Head Start children in the Hokey Pokey, some of the goals would be to improve participation, social and motor development skills, according to Price, The same would apply to adult clients. "It would be the students' job to say, 'Well, if I'm working with clients in their 70s to 90s, what music would they like? What would be motivating to them?'" Price said. Many of the students attending the Willow Wind-based workshop said they are excited to try their newly honed skills. "Say if (clients) were in a bad mood. I would hope they would feel better when we're done," Wixon-Genack said at an afternoon jam with her classmates. Classmate McNamara said the music may help some of the elder clients form bonds with acquaintances they would normally pass by in the halls. "Instead of being isolated all the time, they can go meet each other if they find something in common," McNamara said. Although the six-week workshop is drawing to an end, Tatiana Baze and others said they won't walk away empty handed. "I know I'll take some things I've learned in this class with me," Tatiana Baze said. "Like how it can help people." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -